For January, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI came in at -1.71, a significant improvement over December’s -6.1 and November’s -7.94. That was preceded by October’s -11.25, its lowest level since the April 2020 all-time low, at -28.66. The September TCI reading came in at -2.35.

The Port of Los Angeles reported that February volume—at 487,846 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units)—were down 43% compared to February 2022. The Port of Long Beach reported that total February volume—at 543,675 TEU—dropped 31.7% annually

Ready to welcome a steady incoming flow of conference attendees, introduce the world to a host of new industry innovations and provide a full lineup of fun events all week long, ProMat 2023 opened its doors to the world at 10 a.m. CST this morning.

In our latest Special Digital Issue, Logistics Management has curated several feature stories that neatly encapsulate the rise of automated systems and related technologies that are revolutionizing how warehouse and DC operations work.

The national average decreased 6.2 cents, to $4.185, following a 3.5-cent decline, to $4.247, for the week of March 13.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) expressed what it called its “grave concerns” about media reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be on the verge of granting the state of California waivers to implement potentially harmful and unrealistic emissions rules on the industry. Under California rules, new Class 8 heavy truck models would be zero-emission next year. Diesel and gasoline-powered drayage trucks must retire after 18 years to guarantee that they meet a zero-emission requirement by 2035.

Phoenix-based Knight-Swift Transportation, already the biggest player in the TL market at $4.5 billion revenue last year, is buying Chattanooga, Tenn.-based U.S. Xpress, which ranked ninth in TL revenue last year at $2.2 billion. The deal is valued at $808 million, including assumption of $484 million of debt.

Four finalists were chosen as the most innovative products in each of their respective categories: Best New Innovation, Best Innovation of an Existing Product, and Best IT Innovation based on concept, value, and impact.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for February, came in at 118.4 (2015=100), for a 1.2% increase, over January’s 117 reading.

DSV said that the objective of these acquisitions are three-fold: to augment its position within the semiconductor industry; align with its new Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport operations; and support its growing cross-border services into Latin America. It added that these acquisitions are expected to be made official next month.

8002/20943Thanks to Peter Jones (not that one) and others who sent me this clip from a TV quiz.On the one hand kudos to me for getting this self-produced chat show to the point where it is deemed worthy of a general knowledge question, but on the other the complete look of bafflement on the faces of both women does suggest there is some way to go. Even with my first name as a given. And even, as I suspect, if the theme of the round might well have been fish.

8003/20944I came downstairs for breakfast having forgotten there was an election on. As I made my coffee I remembered and thought, I wonder if they've got any projections yet. I wasn't overly concerned. Some were saying it was tight, but the posh bloke off that politics podcast and a few others had said Kamala was going to win easily and Elon Musk seemed to be the only one saying there would be a landslide the other way and he seemed to have ulterior motives.

8004/20945Dropped the kids off at school then went up to the Lister Hospital to have my bloods done ahead of next week's annual catch-up with my oncologist. I had my full body scan done a couple of weeks ago and I very much appreciate this regular check up to make sure nothing nasty has returned or if my body is concocting a new way to kill me.

8005/20946A day that will go down in history as the Great Fire of Hitchin. Almost the whole town was burned down overnight and it was only the intervention of the fire brigade that kept the flames at bay in the industrial estate where the conflagration had started.  So only maybe one building was affected, but it's horrible to think of what might have happened if no one had called 999. Apparently the industrial estate has about four fires a year, so they are especially lucky that the fire fighters show up.

8006/20947Another 9/11 passes by with barely anyone recognising it at all. It seems to be only me and Harriet Harman who remember that fateful day at all (thanks to @BookHonest for the clip). I guess the world moves on, but I will remember them. The rest of you should be ashamed.I was hoping to get to Park Run this morning, but Catie took the early shift with the kids (I am usually the one who gets up to do this, as I generally wake up before the children) and I slept in til after 9am. I don't remember the last time this happened.

8007/20948Scientists have ascertained that chimpanzees will never accidentally type the complete works of Shakespeare - there's simply not enough time left in history for the population of chimpanzees on earth to type even a simple sentence. Thank goodness that's been sorted out.Also even if you put chimps in a room with a typewriter, the probably wouldn't attempt to use it. And if they did it would be hard to force them to do nothing else but type for more than a few seconds. There's all kinds of reasons why chimps won't ever do this.

8008/209498008th entry. BOOB!I am 57. Imagine what my life will be like if I get to 69. What a year that's going to be. 
 
When I was in Cheddar last month I informed by 88 year old dad about what I was going to talk about in his eulogy, which might be considered tasteless and that would be an accurate assessment. To be fair the old bastard hasn't shown any signs of snuffing it yet and I think there's a good chance he will outlive me, so the joke will be on me, as he has loads of embarrassing stories about me.I

Jungle “Let’s Go Back” One of the most distinctive elements of Jungle’s style is the way they stack vocal harmonies so it feels like a warm breeze or like being submerged in hot water. It’s cozy and calming, but also enveloping and elemental. You get a lot of that in “Let’s Go Back,” a new […]

Lunar Vacation “Sick” I had to see the lyrics of “Sick” in print to pick up on some crucial context – my ear didn’t catch the phrase “luxury apartments” because the melody wraps around the very Wilco-esque chords in a way that puts those two words in separate lines. I initially took this song pretty […]

Daniela Andrade “Biking” The keyboard and percussion parts the verses of “Biking” are so soft and subtle that it sounds like they’re nervously and very carefully tip-toeing around the vocal. This suits the lyrics perfectly, as Daniela Andrade is essentially confessing that she’s in love. She’s addressing the “you” that she’s fallen for, but I […]

Bathe “Avalon” “Avalon” is a song about wanting to be somewhere else. You can go a few different directions with that idea – like, you could focus on conveying discomfort, dissatisfaction, a burning desire to get out of your current setting. The R&B duo Bathe opted for evoking the place they’d rather be. The music […]

Thandii “It Only Takes 2” Thandii are funk minimalists in the tradition of ESG and Liquid Liquid, though I think their grooves come out feeling less tightly wound and neurotic. “It Only Takes 2” in particular strikes me as being like if Swim-era Caribou made an 80s freestyle song. The stark arrangement keeps your ear […]

The Army, The Navy “BBIDGI” The Army, The Navy are a folk duo with the same basic set up as Simon & Garfunkel – two singers, one guitar. The interesting thing with them, most especially on “BBIDGI,” is how their melodies and vocal harmonies are much closer in style and tone to mid 90s through […]

Kate Bollinger “Postcard From A Cloud” I love the simple little trick Kate Bollinger pulls off in this song – singing near the bottom of her register in the verses, and at the top of it on the choruses. It’s not heavy-handed at all and it took me a little while to even really notice, […]

Geordie Greep “Holy, Holy” Congratulations to former Black Midi member Geordie Greep for writing the most Steely Dan-ish lyrics I’ve ever heard outside of anything Walter Becker and Donald Fagen actually made themselves. The Dan-ness carries over to the vocal melody and cadence, but the arrangement mixes in some aggro-prog flavor along with the suave […]

The Fiery Furnaces “Quay Cur” (Stuck In My Head version) I love Matthew Friedberger’s endless delight in reinterpreting his songs. It seems like for him it’s mostly a formal game, but I think it’s also kind of a flex in showing off the strength and versatility of his melodies and musical motifs. The new Fiery […]

Kassie Krut “Reckless” My friend Molly passed this along to me, telling me “this feels Matthew-core.” And she’s right, this is exactly the kind of song I’ve been looking out for on this site for over 20 years. Let’s go down the checklist – catchy but abrasive, big heavy beats, random bits of noise, a […]

The Smile “The Slip” It’s unfortunate that The Smile records have to carry the weight of questions like “wait, is there never going to be another Radiohead album?” and “hold on, so is this basically Radiohead from now on?” But what can you do? Those are big questions for anyone who’d want to listen to […]

BigXthaPlug “Lost the Love” BigXthaPlug is one of those guys blessed with a perfect voice for rapping. This can go a few different ways, but in his case, he’s got that Biggie Smalls/Tupac/Killer Mike type of BOOMING voice that signals grit and authority. There’s a sorrow in his voice too, some wounds you can hear […]

La Femme “Clover Paradise” “Clover Paradise” would fit in very well on the What Was Schaffel? playlist I made earlier this year, which collected electro-glam music from the early 2000s. I’m a sucker for this aesthetic, particularly the way a severe grayish palette and ultra-precise shuffle beat complements a lusty, perverted vibe. It’s like the […]

The Hard Quartet “Six Deaf Rats” I’ve been enjoying The Hard Quartet’s debut record, but was having trouble digesting it as anything more than a late-period Stephen Malkmus album that happened to include some other songs by Matt Sweeney and Emmett Kelly. Seeing the band perform at Webster Hall last night made it all click […]

Kelly Lee Owens “Dreamstate” There’s not a lot of lyrics to “Dreamstate” beyond variations on the phrases “feel the dreamstate” and “dream to live,” but Kelly Lee Owens gets a lot out of those words. It’s in the repetition, the re-arranging of the words, and how she seems to surf the waves of her synth […]

Cameron Winter “Vines” Cameron Winter’s first solo single outside of Geese isn’t just a Geese song released under his own name. It’s also not solo in the sense of him just making music with some other musicians. He sounds solitary and isolated on “Vines,” like he’s responding to the absence of bandmates. The palette is […]

Katrina Ford “World On A Wire” I’ve been writing about songs most days of my life for over 20 years and one thing I’ve learned from this is that a lot of the music I love most resists description. And of course it does – music is ultimately an abstract medium, something that exists to […]

Two Shell “(rock✧solid)” Two Shell make exciting music about feeling excited. Like, if there’s any other point to a song like “(rock✧solid),” I can’t discern it. They want to make people excited, so they built a track that piles on exciting sounds so it sounds like the excitement is eternally escalating, and you can feel […]

Cleo Sol “Fear When You Fly” The majority of people making traditional 20th century-style R&B music today are young enough that, almost unavoidably, their frame of reference for the music has been filtered through five decades of sampling in rap. I feel like this gets filtered back into the traditional music in different ways – […]